Boys
by Ariel Tempest
Summary: SPOILERS FOR VOLUME 6! A speculative piece on the relationship between Akito and Kyo, what it is and what it might, at one point, have been.


Disclaimer: My name is not Natsuki Takaya, therefore, I have no claim to these characters. I'm just trying to clear out my brain 'cause I think too dang much!  
Warnings: MASSIVE spoilers for vol. 6! And angst. Lots of angst.  
Notes: Everything in italics is actually _from_ the manga. Everything else is my perception and phrasing.  
C&C: Yes please!

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Boys

By Kashu Arashi

Two boys sit on either side of a window. Between them, on a ledge, is a board of black and white squares. As the children chatter happily, the dark haired one picks up a small white stone and moves it on the board.

"Ha! I win!"

"You always win! It's not fair!"

"It's just shows I'm better than you. That's why I'm going to be the head of the family. I'm the best."

"Then why are you always sick?"

"I...I don't know that part..."

Behind them, a door opens. A woman enters. "Akito? Akito, who are you...YOU! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Uh-oh..." The orange haired boy pulls back from the window, barely getting out of the way before the woman slams it shut, scattering the board and the pieces on the ground below. The boy stands for a moment before picking everything up and slinking away.

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Two boys sit at a table drinking tea. The older one is reading to the younger when the younger one interrupts.

"Why aren't we supposed to spend time with Kyo?"

"Huh?" The older boy blinks. "Oh, that. It's because he's the cat. He's cursed."

"We're all cursed."

"He's more cursed."

"Cursed how?" The younger boy frowns. "Mori-san says he has a twisted inner spirit. Even though he seems nice on the outside, inside he's really ugly inside. Is that how he's cursed?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Hmm..." The younger boy sips his tea and looks out the window. "I want to see it, Kyo's inner spirit. I want to know for myself if he's ugly. You'll help me, won't you, Shigure?"

"I'm...not so sure about that..."

"You have to. I'm going to be the head of the family, one day, when I'm better."

"...of course, Akito."

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Two boys stand in a room, looking at a monster on the other side of the door. The younger boy draws back, holds his sleeve across his face to keep the smell away. He feels like he's going to vomit or pass out, the smell caking the inside of his entire skull like algae.

_This is Kyo's true form? His body's all warped and ugly. And what's that smell? He smells terrible._

Fighting down his urge to gag, the boy throws a set of beads, white and black, on the ground in front of the monster.

_Is this the cat spirit's true form? It's disgusting._

"Take your beads. Go away. I don't want to see you any more."

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Two young men lie watching the moon.

One stretches out on a roof top, the breeze ruffling orange hair. He's alone and tells himself that he likes it. People are loud, obnoxious...fickly, untrustworthy. They leave you in favor of the lies other people tell them.

One stares blankly out the window, his vision impeded every now and then by the movements of people surrounding him and the fever spots which dance in front of him and refuse to fully go away, even when the doctor gives him a shot of...something. He's long ago stopped believing what other people tell him. He's stopped believing in the word "better."

Owari

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Mori-san: Derived from "moriyaku" - nurse or nanny


End file.
